Factory Delivery Experience On Our New Ranger Tugs R25

Ranger Tugs Offers A Two-Day Factory Delivery Experience

We arrived in Des Moines, Washington for our Factory Delivery Experience, (formally known as Factory Orientation) late Sunday, but it was still light out. Jim had booked a room at a motel just up from the marina. First things first. Before we even checked into the motel, down to the boat to get our first look at our new Ranger Tugs R25. Because of Jim’s forward planning, the new Kismet already had her decal on the bow and stern of the boat. We had her hull ceramic coated, and the decal had to go on first, before the coating. We wanted it all to be completed before we arrived and took possession. (More on the ceramic coating coming in a post soon.)

Monday morning, we up early and down at the marina to meet Ivan Guzman for our first day of Ranger Tug’s two-day Factory Delivery Experience.
Ivan would go over the overall operation of the boat. The next day, Tim Bates would spend the day with us. He would provide a more in-depth review of electronics and engine maintenance. As Ivan went through a list of systems with us, we wondered how many other boat builders provide this kind of owner education. The factory helped us to get out onto the water faster and safer, because of the knowledge we gained during the review.

We have owned three Ranger Tugs in the last 11 years (an R27, R29, and now the R25), you would think we would pass on the orientation of our new boat’s systems. Not true! Technology changes so fast. There is always something new to learn and we welcome an effort to get a quick start and a chance to ask questions, etc. Over the years, we have bought five new boats during our marriage. Ranger Tugs is the only builder to provide us with any help in this area. We have never had an outboard engine before, so we had lots of questions about that. The review of systems provides an opportunity for new owners to ask questions about areas of concern they have.

During our last two Ranger Tugs orientations, I tried to film most of the important instructions.
There is a lot to absorb during these reviews. By the end of the two days, our heads are about to explode with helpful information. The videos will serve us as we need to go back to review what they said during a review and what we forgot or wanted to double-check before using something. It’s just another way that Ranger Tugs goes far beyond the sale of their boats to help their owners get up to speed and get out on the water with confidence.

This time out, we are going from an inboard engine to an outboard. Because of the Lithium Iron house batteries, we opted not to get a generator on this boat. We anchor out a lot and have always had a generator. It will be interesting to see a real-time comparison. (We will cover more on these batteries in a future post after we’ve used them for a while). We got a careful review by both Ivan and Tim on docking with the outboard engine. The new Kismet still has a bow thruster. Now we will use the engine itself instead of a stern thruster to aid in docking our 2022 R25.

I have put together a little video. This will help to give you an idea of how professional and informative our Factory Delivery Experience was. Enjoy!